Email Writing Style: I waaana hearrr from uuuu!
We recently posted a news item about a study published in Social Psychological & Personality Science. The study focused on how corporate email users are perceived based on the writing style of their email messages.
The study found that people who write in the third person are perceived as being either angry or too formal. (Jane Bolton Lacombe hopes that someone will post a comment in response to this blog.) First-person messages, on the other hand, are perceived as intimate. (I hope that someone will post a comment in response to this blog!)
The study also reported how typographical errors and punctuation are perceived. Typographical errors: the sender was perceived as not caring (especially among older readers). Lack of punctuation: ditto, with question marks perceived as indicating confusion and exclamation marks as indicating happiness.
When I read this article, my first thought was how important it is for companies to educate their email users about email etiquette, including writing style. When drafting a corporate email policy, it’s important that email writing style be addressed, especially because some users might be simply unaware of certain perceptions surrounding email writing. (For example, I have encountered people who don’t realize that writing in CAPS = shouting.)
Obviously, it is not surprising that this was my first thought, considering where I work. But my second thought was something less related to my job responsibilities. I thought, what about the teens?
I’ve noticed the newfangled email / texting / facebook language of today’s teens. (Gosh, how old do I sound right now??) Have you noticed the new language too?
The main difference is: extraaaa leeetterrs.
Also, extra abbreviations. (I wish I could give examples but we’ve already established that I’m old.)
I know a mom who restricts her teen’s texting time because she’s worried about how the new language will affect the teen’s writing at school.
I want to know what you think.
Are the extra letters a fad? If not, what will corporate email style look like ten years from now? Will teens have difficulty adjusting when sending corporate emails, accidentally emailing their boossssess with extraaaa leeetterrs? Or, will the writing style of corporate email change and we old folks will have to adjust?
I have my opinions on this, but I really want to hear from uuuu!! Post a comment. If you do, ily.
– Jane Bolton Lacombe
Jane is the Product Marketing Coordinator at Messaging Architects.
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